Category: Spain
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Day 880 – El Puerto de Santa María, Spain – The Sherry Triangle (part 3)
According to Homer’s Odyssey, after the Trojan War, Menestheus escaped through the Straits of Gibraltar to the mouth of the Guadalete River (modern day El Puerto de Santa María) where he established Menesthei Portus (Menestheus’s port). The port was famous for an ancient oracle, the Oracle of Menestheus and to whom the inhabitants of…
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Day 875 – Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain – The Sherry Triangle (part 2)
The habitation of the area around the mouth of the Guadalquivir river can be traced back to the semi-mythical city of Tartessos and the lost Tartessians culture which had its own written language, contemporaries of the Phoenicians who later built their own port city in nearby Cádiz. The city rich in silver and bronze…
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Day 871 – Jerez de la Frontera – The Sherry Triangle (part 1)
Jerez de la Frontera is a town of just over 200 thousand best known as the production capitol of sherry wines. Here along with the two coastal towns of El Puerto de Santa María and Sanlúcar de Barrameda (until very recently the only three towns where sherry could be legally produced) form a triangle…
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Day 869 – Cádiz, Spain – One of the oldest cities in western Europe.
Cádiz is a peninsular port city located in the south of Spain and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in western Europe. Founded around 1104 BC by the Phoenicians, this city has a very long history of conquest and reinvention, destruction and rebirth. Columbus sailed from Cádiz on his second and fourth…
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Abantal – February 11, 2022 (Seville, Spain)
Abantal was opened by Andalusian chef Julio Fernández Quintero in 2004, and shortly after he won best Andalusian chef in 2005. By 2008 he achieved his first Michelin star which Abantal still retains 14 years later. Abantal is founded on presenting fresh Andalusian ingredients in an elevated style, traditional dishes with a modern edge.…
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Day 748 – Santiago de Compostela, Spain – The end of the Camino.
The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain was believed to house the remains of St. John the apostle and in the 10th century became one of the three great pilgrimage sites of the Catholic church (Rome and Jerusalem being the others) where one could earn a plenary indulgence for the journey. There are…
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Day 161 – Granada, Spain – The last stronghold of Moorish Europe
Granada sits in the south of Spain at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains at the confluence of the Darro, the Genil, the Monachil and the Beiro rivers. It was the last Moorish stronghold to fall to Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile (the Catholic Monarchs) during the great Reconquista…
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Day 155 – Seville, Spain – The orange blossom dream I wished would never end.
Thin winding streets lined with orange trees, the smell of orange blossoms surrounding you, ancient tile-work facades on brightly painted buildings in ochre and curry and mustard. The sheer ornateness of the city suggests a history much larger than the city seems. The sky dominated by the largest gothic cathedral in Europe. Where the…
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Day 155 – Seville, Spain – Andalusian cuisine: Eating tapas in Seville
Andalusian cuisine Andalusian cuisine reflects the deep history and turmoil of the region. You can trace the region’s traditional dishes to contributions made by different cultures throughout time. The region was first settled by the Phoenicians around 1100BC who first planted olives and grapevines. 300 years later the region would become the main source…
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La Tasqueria de Javi Estevez – March 2, 2020 (Madrid, Spain)
Javi Estevez started his restaurant in 2015 and at 35 received his first Michelin star in 2019. What makes his restaurant exceptional is that he did it championing the nose to tail approach he feels represents traditional Spanish cooking and really highlights offal cooking as the star of the menu. These types of dishes…